After "Grand Theft" revs up, how much in its tank?

SAN DIEGO (Hollywood Reporter) - While there's little doubt
about the power of this week's launch of "Grand Theft Auto IV,"
there is some question about the video game's legs.

The latest chapter in the wildly popular and controversial
criminal action franchise will likely smash the $300 million
global first-week sales figure for Microsoft's "Halo 3" in
September, but how the game will fare by year's end is subject
to debate.

"I think all the preorder programs now in place for these
top titles really end up taking the long-term sales out of many
games," said Michael Goodman, director of digital entertainment
at Yankee Group. "So I don't think 'Grand Theft Auto IV' is
going to have those kind of legs."

Many stores are opening up at midnight Monday to
accommodate eager customers.

Take-Two Interactive Software Inc, parent company of
developer Rockstar Games, even suggested that worldwide actual
game sales could reach 6 million, generating $400 million for
the publisher as it battles a hostile takeover attempt from
rival Electronic Arts.

"Halo 3," for example, exhausted 67% of its total U.S.
sales-to-date in its first month, and though NPD games analyst
Anita Frazier said the game still is selling 100,000 copies a
month, it no longer is in the tracking firm's top 10 monthly
charts.

But David Cole, president of market research firm DFC
Intelligence, stressed that "Grand Theft Auto IV" always has
been a different type of franchise. "If you look at 'Halo'
titles historically, they've always been the type of games that
everybody rushed out to buy, but the 'Auto' titles have always
had lots of legs," he said.

Because "Grand Theft Auto" depicts carjacking, murder and
other questionable content that has upset parents, Cole noted
many people forget that the games are very accessible and have
real mass-market appeal, despite their M (for Mature) rating.
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